ORBITER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does orbiter mean? 

• ORBITER (noun)
  The noun ORBITER has 1 sense:

1. man-made equipment that orbits around the earth or the moon

  Familiarity information: ORBITER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ORBITER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Man-made equipment that orbits around the earth or the moon

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

artificial satellite; orbiter; satellite

Hypernyms ("orbiter" is a kind of...):

equipment (an instrumentality needed for an undertaking or to perform a service)

Meronyms (parts of "orbiter"):

solar array; solar battery; solar panel (electrical device consisting of a large array of connected solar cells)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "orbiter"):

astronomy satellite (a satellite equipped with a telescope to observe infrared radiation)

communications satellite (an artificial satellite that relays signals back to earth; moves in a geostationary orbit)

ballistic capsule; space vehicle; spacecraft (a craft capable of traveling in outer space; technically, a satellite around the sun)

space laboratory; space platform; space station (a manned artificial satellite in a fixed orbit designed for scientific research)

sputnik (a Russian artificial satellite)

spy satellite (a satellite with sensors to detect nuclear explosions)

meteorological satellite; weather satellite (a satellite that transmits frequent picture of the earth below)

Derivation:

orbit (move in an orbit)

 Context examples 

The exposure of it extends about 800 feet (about 240 meters) north to south on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, as mapped by the orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM).

(Aluminum-Bearing Site on Mars Draws NASA Visitor, NASA)

Scientists examined part of Mars' Utopia Planitia region, in the mid-northern latitudes, with the orbiter's ground-penetrating Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument.

(Mars Ice Deposit Holds as Much Water as Lake Superior, NASA)

In 2005, NASA's Cassini orbiter detected jets of water vapor and dust spewing off the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

(Possible Water Plumes on Jupiter's Moon Europa, NASA)

The orbiter will continue detailed studies as the comet approaches the sun and then moves away.

(Rosetta's 'Philae' Makes Historic First Landing on a Comet, NASA)

NASA is taking steps to protect its Mars orbiters, while preserving opportunities to gather valuable scientific data, as Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring heads toward a close flyby of Mars on Oct. 19.

(Mars spacecraft prepare for close comet flyby, NASA)

To do so, he built on his experience working with radar images on NASA's Magellan Venus orbiter and from a previous regional geologic map of Titan that he developed.

(The First Global Geologic Map of Titan Completed, NASA)

This clay-enriched region, located on the side of lower Mount Sharp, stood out to NASA orbiters before Curiosity landed in 2012.

(Curiosity Mars Rover Finds a Clay Cache, NASA)

Its data, coupled with images from a camera aboard the orbiter called the Mars Context Imager (MARCI), enabled scientists to detect numerous swelling dust towers.

(Global Storms on Mars Launch Dust Towers Into the Sky, NASA)

The comet—officially named 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková—belongs to the Jupiter family of comets, frequent orbiters that loop around the Sun about every five to seven years.

(NASA Telescope Studies Quirky Comet 45P, NASA)

Sheridan Ackiss of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, and collaborators used the orbiter's mineral-mapping spectrometer to investigate surface composition in an oddly textured region of southern Mars called Sisyphi Montes.

(Clues about Volcanoes Under Ice on Ancient Mars, NASA)